:  II 

!    I    iS 


SERMON, 

PREACHED  IN  BOSTON,  JULY  23,  1812, 
THE  DAY  OF  THE 

PUBLICK  FAST, 

APPOINTED  BY  THE  EXECUTIVE  OF  THE 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

IN  CONSEQUENCE  OE 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  WAR  AGAINST 
GREAT  BRITAIN. 


BY  WILLIAM  ELLERY  CHANNING, 

MINISTEa  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  FEDERAL  STREET, 


PUBLISHED  JIT  THE  REQUEST  OF  THE  HEARERS 


BOSTON: 
PRINTED  BY  C-REENOUGH  AND  STEBBINB 


LUKE  XIX.  41,  42. 

Jesus  was  come  near,  he  beheld  the 
city,  and  wept  over  it,  saying,  If  thou  hadst  known, 
even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which 
belong  unto  thy  peace  !  but  now,  they  are  hid  from 
thine  eyes. 

THESE  words  were  pronounced  by  Jesus  Christ, 
just  before  his  death,  when  approaching,  for  the  last 
time,  the  guilty  city  of  Jerusalem.  From  the 
Mount  of  Olives  he  surveyed  this  metropolis  of  his 
nation,  its  lofty  towers,  its  splendid  edifices,  and 
above  all,  its  holy  and  magnificent  temple  ; — and 
as  he  looked,  his  benevolent  he  art  was  pierced  with 
sorrow  at  the  scenes,  which  opened  on  his  prophet- 
ick  eye.  He  saw  this  city,  now  so  crowded,  so  opu 
lent,  so  secure,  surrounded  by  the  armies  of  Rome. 
Instead  of  security,  he  saw  terror  and  consterna 
tion.  He  saw  the  sword  wasting  without,  and  he 
saw  famine  within,  more  fatal  than  the  sword,  car 
rying  death  in  the  most  horrid  forms,  into  what  were 
once  the  abodes  of  plenty  and  joy.  He  saw  the  in 
vading  army  gradually  approaching,  and  at  length 
scaling  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  weary  with 
slaughter,  calling  in  the  aid  of  fire  to  complete  tho 
work  of  desolation.  He  saw  the  rapid  flames  lev- 


JVJ285S84 


elling  all  the  magnificence  which  was  spread  be 
fore  him,  and  even  seizing  on  the  temple  of  God, 
ascending  its  lofty  battlements,  and  leaving  not  a 
vestige  of  its  consecrated  altars.  As  he  looked  for 
ward  to  the  ruins  of  his  country,  he  wept  and  ex- 
claimed,  Oh  that  thou  hadst  known  the  things  which 
belong  to  thy  peace  ! 

The  emotion,  which  Jesus  now  expressed,  un 
doubtedly  arose  from  the  general  benevolence  of  his 
character.  He  would  have  wept  over  any  city, 
doomed  to  this  awful  destruction  :  but  as  Jesus  al 
ways  discovered  the  sensibilities  of  human  nature, 
we  are  authorized  in  believing,  that  his  grief  on  this 
occasion  was  rendered  more  poignant  by  the  con 
sideration,  that  Jerusalem  was  the  metropolis  of  his 
country — that  its  ruin  would  be  followed  by  the 
dispersion  and  misery  of  the  nation  to  which  he 
belonged.  His  tears  were  tears  of  patriotism,  as 
well  as  benevolence.  We  here  learn  that  it  is  a 
part  of  our  character  and  duty,  as  Christians,  to  be 
affected  by  the  prospect  of  national  suffering.  The 
miseries  of  our  country,  as  far  as  they  are  unfolded  to 
us,  should  arrest  our  attention,  should  draw  tears 
from  our  eyes,  and  lamentation  from  our  lips ;  should 
increase  our  interest  in  our  native  land,  and  rouse 
every  effort  for  its  security. 

On  this  day,  there  is  a  peculiar  propriety  in  di 
recting  our  minds  to  this  subject.  This  is  a  day,  set 
apart  for  national  sorrow  and  humiliation.  It  is  a 
day,  when  forsaking  our  common  pursuits,  and  es 
pecially  forsaking  our  pleasures,  we  are  to  penetrate 
our  hearts  with  our  national  danger  and  sins,  and  to 
offer,  in  the  temple  of  the  Almighty,  penitential  ac- 
ksjowledgments  and  earnest  prayers,  that  he  will 


spare  and  protect  our  country.  On  this  day,  the  ca 
lamities,  which  we  feel  or  fear,  should  be  brought 
home  to  us,  that  our  prayers  may  be  more  earnest, 
our  humiliation  more  deep,  our  purpose  more  sin 
cere  to  renounce  our  sins,  and  to  perform  our  duties 
as  citizens  and  as  Christians. 

I  am  sensible  that  on  this  subject — the  calamities 
of  otir  country —^there  is  danger  of  indulging  exces 
sive  apprehension.  I  know  that  the  mind  of  man 
is  querulous  and  discontented — that  he  is  prone  to 
turn  from  the  bright  part  of  his  prospects,  to  forget 
his  blessings  in  magnifying  his  dangers,  and  to  say 
that  all  before  him  is  darkness  and  sorrow.  In 
speaking  of  our  calamities  as  a  nation,  I  desire  not 
to  forget  that  we  have  been  a  highly  favoured  people, 
and  that  we  have  still  many  benefits,  which  it  be 
comes  us  to  acknowledge  with  gratitude,  and  which 
distinguish  us  from  other  nations.  When  I  speak 
of  our  calamities,  I  do  not  mean  to  say,  that  our 
state  is  as  wretched  as  that  of  Spain  and  Portugal ; 
nations  overrun  with  armies,  drenched  with  blood, 
thinned  by  famine  ; — we  are  not  as  wretched  as 
France,  sinking  as  she  is  under  tyranny  as  galling 
as  the  world  ever  knew,  yet  forced  to  suppress  hen 
groans,  forced  to  give  up,  without  a  murmur,  her*v 
treasures,  her  children,  to  her  merciless  lord.  A 
lot  worse  than  ours  can  easily  be  conceived.  Ma 
ny  fruits  of  our  former  prosperity  aro  left  us  ;  and, 
with  few  exceptions,  the  inestimable  blessings  of 
liberty  continue  to  be  the  honourable  distinction  of 
our  country.  But,  whilst  we  acknowledge  this 
with  thankfulness,  is  it  not  true,  and  ought  we  not 
to  feel  it,  that  our  prosperity  is  rapidly  declining, 
and  that  dangers  of  tremendous  aspect  are  opening 


6 

before  us  ?  Why  is  it,  my  friends,  that  en  this  day 
you  have  suspended  your  common  pursuits,  and  are 
now  assembled  in  the  house  of  God  ?  It  is  because 
our  country,  which  has  been  so  long  the  abode,  the 
asylum  of  peace,  is  at  length  given  up  by  God  to 
the  calamities  of  a  state  of  WAR.  Have  we  not  cause 
of  lamentation  and  alarm  ? 

In  all  circumstances,  at  all  times,  war  is  to  be  de 
precated  as  one  of  the  severest  judgments  of  God. 
The  evil  passions  it  excites,  its  ravages,  its  bloody 
conflicts,  the  distress  and  terror  it  carries  into  do- 
mestick  life,  the  tears  it  draws  from  the  widow  and 
the  fatherless,  all  render  war  a  tremendous  scourge. 

There  are  indeed  conditions  in  which  war  is  jus 
tifiable,  is  necessary.  It  may  be  the  last  and  only 
method  of  repelling  lawless  ambition,  and  of  defend 
ing  invaded  liberty  and  essential  rights.  It  may  be 
the  method  of  preventing  or  repairing  injury,  which 
God's  providence  points  out  by  furnishing  the  means 
of  successful  warfare,  by  opening  the  prospect  of  a 
happy  termination.  In  these  cases  wre  must  not 
shrink  from  war  ;  though  even  in  these  we  should 
lament  the  necessity  of  shedding  human  blood.  In 
such  wais  our  country  claims  and  deserves  our 
prayers,  our  cheerful  services,  the  sacrifice  of  wealth 
ajid  even  of  life.  In  such  wars  we  are  comforted 
when  our  friends  fall  on  the  field  of  battle  ;  for  we 
know  that  they  have  fallen  in  a  just  and  honourable 
cause.  Such  conflicts,  which  our  hearts  and  con 
sciences  approve,  are  suited  to  exalt  the  character, 
to  call  forth  generous  sentiments,  splendid  virtues, 
to  give  ardor  to  the  patriot,  resolution  to  the  hero, 
and  a  calm,  unyielding  fortitude  to  all  classes  of 
Ihe  community.  Could  I  view  the  war  in  which 


we  are  engaged  in  this  light,  with  what  different 
feelings,  my  friends,  should  I  address  you  !  We 
might  then  look  up  to  God  and  commit  to  him  our 
country  with  a  holy  confidence.  We  might  then 
ask  his  blessing  on  all  oar  efforts,  without  being  re 
buked  by  the  fear,  that  this  holy  and  beneficent  be 
ing  views  us  with  displeasure.  It  would  then  be 
my  duty  to  revive  the  spirits  of  the  drooping,  to  re 
prove  the  fears  of  the  trembling,  to  exhort  you  to 
gird  on  the  sword,  and  not  count  your  lives  dear  to 
you  in  asserting  the  cause  of  your  country  and  man 
kind.  But,  in  our  present  state,  what  can  I  say  to 
you  ?  I  would,  but  I  cannot  address  you  in  the  lan 
guage  of  encouragement.  I  can  offer  you  no  reflec 
tions  to  sustain  you  in  your  calamities — no  bright 
prospects  to  animate  hope  and  to  lighten  the  pres 
sure  of  immediate  suffering.  We  are  precipitated 
into  a  war,  which,  I  think,  cannot  be  justified — and 
a  war,  which  promises  not  a  benefit,  that  I  can  dis 
cover,  to  this  country  or  to  the  world.  We  are  suf 
fering  much,  and  are  to  suffer  more — and  not  one 
compensation  for  suffering  presents  itself,  whether 
we  consider  the  influence  of  the  war  on  ourselves 
or  on  foreign  countries. 

That  we  have  received  no  injuries  from  the  na 
tion,  which  we  have  selected  as  our  enemy,  I  dp 
not  say — I  am  not  prepared  to  deny  that  the  orders 
of  England  are  infractions  of  our  rights,*  but  when 
I  consider  the  atrocious  and  unprovoked  decrees  of 
Fr  anee,  on  which  these  orders  were  designed  to  re 
taliate  5  the  unprecedented  kind  of  war,  which  these 


*  The  author  has  wished  to  speak  with  diffidence  on  the  subject  of  the  Orders 
in  Council,  knowing  that  a  diversity  of  sentiment  on  this  point,  exists  among  \visij 
*nd  good  men  in  this  country, 


8 

orders  were  designed  to  repel — when  1  consider 
the  situation  of  England,  that  she  k  contending  for 
existence,  whilst  her  enemy  is  avowedly  contend 
ing  for  conquest — and  when  I  consider  the  conduct 
of  our  own  government  in  relation  to  the  two  bel 
ligerents,  the  partiality  and  timid  submission  they 
have  expressed  towards  the  one,  the  cause  of  sus 
picion  they  have  given  to  the  other,  and  the  spirit 
in  which  they  have  sought  reparation  from  Engv 
land — I  am  unable  to  justify  the  war  in  which  we 
have  engaged.  To  render  a  war  justifiable  it  is 
not  enough  that  we  have  received  injuries — we 
must  ask  ourselves,  have  we  done  our  duty  to  the 
nation  of  which  we  complain  ? — have  we  taken  and 
kept  a  strictly  impartial  position  towards  her  and 
her  enemy  ? — have  we  not  submitted  to  outrages 
from  her  enemy  by  which  he  has  acquired  advan 
tages  in  the  war  ? — have  we  sought  reparation  of 
injuries  in  a  truly  pacifick  spirit  ? — have  we  insisted 
only  on  undoubted  rights  ? — have  we  demanded  no 
unreasonable  concessions  ?  These  questions  must 
be  answered  before  we  decide  on  the  character  of 
the  war,  and  I  fear  the  answer  must  be  against  us. 
When  I  consider  the  restrictions  formerly  laid 
on  our  commerce  for  the  purpose  of  pressing  with 
severity  on  England,  and  on  England  alone — when 
I  consider  the  demand  we  have  made  on  that  na 
tion,  that  she  shall  revoke  a  blockade  which  at  first 
we  approved,  and  of  which  we  did  not  for  years 
make  a  complaint — when  I  consider  another  de 
mand  we  have  made  on  England,  that  she  shall  be 
lieve  in  the  repeal  of  the  decrees  of  France,  although 
evidence  of  repeal  has  not  been  given  her — when  I 
consider  our  unwillingness  to  conclude  an  arrange- 


metit  with  her  on  that  very  difficult  and  irritating 
subject  of  impressment ;  notwithstanding  she  prof 
fered  such  an  one  as  our  own  minister  at  that  court, 
and  our  present  secretary  of  state  declared  "  was 
botfi  honourable  and  advantageous  to  the  United 
States" — when  I  consider,  what  I  blush  to  repeat, 
the  accusation  which  we  have  brought  against 
England  without  a  shadow  of  proof,  that  she  has 
stirred  up  the  savages  to  murder  our  defenceless 
citizens  on  the  frontiers — and  when  with  all  this  I 
contrast  the  yielding,  abject  spirit  with  which  we 
have  borne  the  threats,  insults,  pillage,  confisca 
tions  and  atrocities  of  her  enemy — I  cannot  say 
that  we  have  done  our  duty,  as  a  neutral  nation,  to 
England ;  that  we  have  sought  reparation  in  a 
friendly  spirit ;  that  we  have  tried  with  fairness  ev 
ery  milder  method  before  we  made  our  appeal  to 
arms — and  if  this  be  true,  then  the  war  is  unjusti 
fiable.  If  we  have  rushed  into  it,  when  we  might 
have  avoided  it  by  an  impartial  and  paci&ck  course, 
then  we  have  wantonly  and  by  our  own  fault  drawn 
on  ourselves  its  privations  and  calamities.  Our  en 
emy  may  indeed  divide  the  guilt  with  us, — but  on 
ourselves,  as  truly  as  on  our  enemy,  Mis  the  heavy 
guilt  of  spreading  tumult,  slaughter,  and  misery 
through  the  family  of  God. 

If  on  the  ground  of  right  and  justice  this  war 
cannot  be  defended,  what  shall  we  say  when  we 
come  to  consider  its  expedience,  its  effects  on 
ourselves  and  the  world.  It  is  a  war  fraught  writh 
ruin  to  our  property,  our  morals,  our  religion,  our 
independence,  our  dearest  rights — whilst  its  influ 
ence  on  other  nations,  on  the  common  cause  of  hu 
manity,  is  most  unhappy. 


10 

Do  any  ask,  what  are  the  evils  which  this  war  has 
inflicted  or  threatens  ? — we  may  first  mention  the  im- 
iueuse  loss  of  property  to  which  it  exposes  us. — I 
know  that  property  is  often  overvalued — and  in  this 
country,  the  love  of  it  is  too  strong,  too  exclusive  a 
passion.  I  do  not  mean  to  encourage  this  passion 
by  deploring  the  loss  of  property  as  the  worst  of 
evils — still  it  has  its  value — and  one  great  object 
and  duty  of  government  is  to  secure  and  protect  it. 

By  this  war  much  of  our  property  is  placed  be 
yond  our  reach — shut  up  in  the  ports  of  oar  enemy 
— not  through  the  improvidence  of  our  merchants — 
but  in  consequence  of  a  severe  law  of  our  own  gov 
ernment — a  law  which  had  no  other  foundation  but 
the  pretext  that  France  had  revoked  her  injurious 
decrees. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  war  has  exposed  to  cap 
ture  all  our  wealth  floating  on  the  ocean.  We  have 
chosen  for  our  enemy  a  nation  which  commands  the 
seas,  which  can  block  up  the  mouths  of  our  har- 
oours— and  we  have  invited  her  numerous  cruisers 
to  make  a  prey  of  our  defenceless  ships  and  unsus 
pecting  seamen,  who  are  now  returning  from  every 
quarter  of  the  globe. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Still  more  must  be  lost  to  us 
1)y  the  melancholy  suspension  of  active  pursuits, 
which  this  war  must  induce  in  the  commercial  states. 
This  war  is  a  death-blow  to  our  commerce.  The 
ocean,  which  nature  has  spread  before  us  as  the  field 
of  our  enterprise  and  activity,  and  from  which  we 
have  reaped  the  harvest  of  our  prosperity,  is,  in  ef 
fect,  forbidden  us.  We  see  it  laving  all  our  shores 
- — we  hear  the  noise  of  its  waves — but  it  is  our  ele 
ment  no  longer.  Our  ships  and  superfluous  produce 


ii 

are  to  perish  on  our  hands — our  capital  to  waste  a;- 
way  in  unproductive  inactivity.  Our  intercourse 
with  all  foreign  nations  is  broken  ofi^  and  the  na 
tion,  with  which  we  sustained  the  most  profitable  in 
tercourse,  is  our  foe.  Need  I  tell  you  the  distress, 
which  this  war  must  spread  through  the  commer 
cial  classes  of  society,  and  among  all  whose  occu 
pations  are  connected  with  commerce.  How  many 
are  there  from  whom  the  hard  earnings  of  years  are 
to  be  wrested  by  this  war,  whose  active  pursuits  and 
cheering  prospects  of  future  comfort  are  exchanged 
for  discouragement,  solicitude,  and  approaching 
want. 

In  addition  to  this,  as  our  resources  are  decreas 
ing,  the  publick  burdens  are  growing  heavier ;  and 
government,  after  paralyzing  our  industry  and  clos 
ing  the  channels  of  our  wealth,  are  about  to  call  on 
us  for  new  contributions  to  support  the  war  under 
which  we  are  sinking; f  And  to  fill  up  the  measure 
of  injury,  we  are  told,  that  this  war,  so  fatal  to  com 
merce,  so  dreaded  by  the  friends  of  commerce,  is 
carried  on  for  its  protection.  We  are  required  to 
believe,  that  restriction  and  war,  the  measures  which 
have  drained  away  the  life-blood  of  our  prosperity* 
are  designed  to  secure  our  rights  on  the  ocean. 

But  loss  of  property  is  a  small  evil  attending 
this  war — its  effect  on  our  character  cannot  be  cal 
culated.  I  need  not  tell  you  the  moral  influence 
of  a  war,  which  is  bringing  to  a  gloomy  pause  the 
activity  of  the  community — which  is  to  fill  our 
streets  with  labourers  destitute  of  employment — - 
which  is  to  reduce  our  young  men  to  idleness- -which 
will  compel  a  large  portion  of  the  community  to  es 
teem  their  own  jrovermnon!  their  worst 


1$ 

Regular  industry  is  the  parent  of  sobriety,  and  gives 
strength  to  all  tlie  virtues.  A  community  must  be 
corrupted,  in  proportion  as  idleness,  discontent  and 
want  prevail.  We  have  reason  to  fctir,  that  these 
temptations  will  prove  too  strong  for  the  virtue  of 
common  minds — that  with  the  decline  of  commerce, 
the  sense  of  honour  and  uprightness  in  pecuniary 
transactions  will  decline — that  fair  dealing  will  be 
succeeded  by  fraud — that  civil  laws  will  be  treat 
ed  with  contempt — that  habits  of  dissoluteness  and 
intemperance,  already  too  common,  will  be  awfully 
multiplied — that  our  young  men,  thrown  out  of  em 
ployment  and  having  no  field  for  their  restless  ac 
tivity  and  ardent  hopes,  will  give  themselves  up  to 
lawless  pleasure  or  immoral  pursuits. 

Let  me  here  mention  one  pursuit,  which  this  war 
will  encourage,  and  which  will  operate  very  unhap 
pily  on  our  character.  I  have  said  that  the  ocean 
will  be  abandoned — I  mistake---The  merchant  ves 
sel  will  indeed  forsake  it ;  but  the  privateer  will  take 
her  place.  The  ocean  is  no  longer  to  be  the  field 
of  useful  and  honest  enterprise.  We  are  no  long 
er  to  traverse  it,  that  we  may  scatter  through  the 
world  the  bounties  of  Providence.  Henceforth  plun 
der — plunder  is  our  only  object.  We  are  to  issue 
from  our  ports,  not  to  meet  the  armed  ship  of  our 
enemy — not  to  break  her  naval  power — not  to  wage 
a  war  for  publick  purposes,  a  war  which  will  reflect 
honour  on  our  country,  and  give  some  elevation  to 
our  own  minds — we  shall  go  forth  .to  meet  the  de 
fenceless  private  merchant,  and,  with  our  sword  at 
his  breast,  we  are  to  demand  his  property,  and  to 
enrich  ourselves  with  his  spoils.  This  pursuit  is 
indeed  allowed  by  the  law  of  nations  :  but  Christ- 


13 

ians,  and  the  friends  to  publick  morals,  must  dread 
and  abhor  it  as  peculiarly  calculated  to  stamp  on  a 
people  the  character  of  rapacity  and  hardness  of 
heart.  Yet  this  is  the  pursuit,  this  the  character,  in 
which  Americans  are  henceforth  to  be  found  on  the 
ocean. 

But  all  the  ruinous  effects  of  this  war  are  not  ye4 
unfolded.  To  see  it  in  its  true  character,  we  must 
consider  against  what  nation  it  is  waged,  and  with 
what  nation  it  is  connecting  us.  We  have  selected 
for  our  enemy  the  nation  from  which  we  sprang, 
and  which  has  long  afforded  and  still  offers  us  a 
friendly  and  profitable  intercourse — a  nation,  which 
has  been,  for  ages,  the  strong  hold  of  Protestant 
Christianity — which  every  where  exhibits  temples 
of  religion,  institutions  of  benevolence,  nurseries  of 
science,  the  aids  and  means  of  human  improvement 
— a  nation,  which,  with  all  the  corruptions  of  her 
government,  still  enjoys  many  of  the  best  blessings 
of  civil  liberty,  and  which  is  now  contending  for 
her  own  independence,  and  for  the  independence  of 
other  nations,  against  the  oppressor  of  mankind. 
When  I  view  my  country  taking  part  with  the  Op 
pressor  against  this  nation,  which  has  alone  arrested 
his  proud  career  of  victory,  which  is  now  spreading 
her  shield  over  desolated  Portugal  and  Spain, 
which  is  the  chief  hope  of  the  civilized  world — I 
blush — I  mourn.  On  this  point,  no  language  can 
be  exaggerated.  We  arc  linking  ourselves  with  the 
acknowledged  enemy  of  mankind — with  a  govern 
ment,  which  can  be  bound  by  no  promise,  no  oath, 
no  plighted  faith — which  prepares  the  way  for  its 
armies  by  perfidy,  bribery,  corruption — which  pil 
lages  with  equal  rapacity  its  enemies  and  allies — 


which  has  left  not  a  vestige  of  liberty  where  it  ha& 
extended  its  blasting  sway — which  is,  at  this  mo 
ment,,  ravaging  nations  that  are  chargeable  with  no 
erirne  but  haired  of  a  foreign  yoke.  Into  contact 
and  communion  with  this  bloody  nation,  we  are 
brought  by  this  war — and  what  can  we  gain  by 
building  up  its  power  ?  what,  but  chains  which  we 
shall  deserve  to  wear  ? 

Will  it  be  said,  that  France,  while  unjust  to  the 
world,  has  yet,  by  her  special  kindness  and  good  of 
fices  and  fidelity  to  this  country,  brought  us  under 
obligations  to  become  her  associate. — Have  we  then 
forgotten  her  insulting  language  to  our  government 
— have  we  forgotten  our  property,  which  she  seized 
in  her  own  ports  without  a  colour  of  justice — have 
we  forgotten  our  ships  burnt  on  the  ocean  ?  This  is 
the  nation  with  whom  we  are  called  to  interweave 
our  destinies — whose  conquests  we  are  ready  to 
aid! 

On  this  subject  too  much  plainness  cannot  be  used. 
Let  our  government  know,  we  deem  alliance  with 
France  the  worst  of  evils,  threatening  at  once  our 
morals,  our  liberty  and  our  religion.  The  character 
«f  that  nation  authorizes  us  to  demand,  that  we  be 
kept  from  the  pollution  of  her  embrace — her  prof 
fered  friendship  we  should  spurn — from  her  arms, 
stained,  drenched  with  the  blood  of  the  injured  and 
betrayed,  we  should  scorn  and  should  fear  to  receive 
aid  or  protection. 

I  have  thus  pointed  out  some  evils  of  the  war,  and 
the  question  now  offers,  what  are  we  to  gain  by  it  ? 
What  compensation  is  offered  us  for  losses  and  ca 
lamities  so  immense  ?  What  brilliant  successes  are 
placed  within  our  resell  ?  Is  it  on  the  ocean  or  on 


15 

the  land  that  we  are  to  meet  and  spoil  our  foe? 
The  ocean  we  resign  to  England ;  and,  unless  her 
policy  or  clemency  prevent,  we  must  resign  to  her 
our  cities  also.  She  can  subject  them  to  tribute,  or 
reduce  them  to  ashes.  With  what  language  shall  I 
speak  of  a  government,  which  plunges  a  country  so 
defenceless  into  such  a  war?  In  better  times,  in 
deed,  we  had  a  growing  navy,  which,  if  fostered, 
might  now  have  afforded  us  important  aid.  But, 
•since  we  have  made  the  mournful  discovery,  that 
qommerce  is  to  be  protected  by  restriction,  our  navy 
has  been  suffered  to  dwindle  into  insignificance,  and 
its  poor  remains,  I  fear,  will  only  serve  to  expose 
our  brave  and  hardy  seamen  to  destruction.  Is  ife 
said  we  can  invade  the  enemy's  provinces.  But 
what  can  we  gain  by  invasion  ?  Of  territory  we 
have  too  much  already.  We  are  sinking  under  our 
unwieldy  bulk.  Plunder,  I  trust,  is  not  to  be  our 
object ;  and  if  it  be,  will  even  the  most  oppressive 
oxactions  extort  from  these  provinces  as  much  as  we 
must  spend  in  conquering  and  retaining  them  ?  Let 
it  be  remembered  too,  that  this  conquest  will  cost  us 
something  more  than  wealth.  It  will  cost  us  blood, 
and  not  the  blood  of  men  whose  lives  are  of  little 
worth — of  men  burdensome  to  society,  such  as  often 
compose  the  armies  of  Europe.  In  this  part  of  our 
country,  at  least,  we  have  no  mobs,  no  overflowing 
population,  from  which  we  wish  to  be  relieved  by 
war.  We  must  send  our  sons,  our  brothers  to  the 
ijeld — men  who  have  property,  homes,  affectionate 
friends,  and  the  prospect  of  useful  and  happy  lives. 
That  government  will  contract  no  ordinary  guilL 
which  sheds  such  blood  for  provinces,  which  are 
our  neighbours,  which  havfc  aovev  ioJMrotlus,  which 


16 

arc  a  charge  to  the  parent  country,  and  can  give  to 
as  no  aid  in  the  present  conflict.  What  then  have 
We  to  gain  ?  Was  ever  war  waged  so  completely 
without  ohject — without  end — without  means — with 
less  prospect  of  a  happy  termination  ? 

It  only  remains  to  consider  the  duties  which  he- 
long  to  us  in  this  unhappy  state  of  our  Country — 
what  sentiments  become  us  in  relation  to  God,  to 
our  rulers,  and  to  our  country.  Our  duties  in  rela 
tion  to  God  are  obvious.  It  becomes  us  to  approach 
this  righteous  Governour  of  nations  and  holy  dispos 
er  of  events  ^rith  deep  humility — to  acknowledge 
his  justice  in  our  sufferings — to  confess  before  him 
our  sins,  and  sincerely  to  renounce  them.  Whilst 
eur  indignation  is  called  forth  towards  the  men  who 
have  exposed  us  to  the  calamities  of  war,  let  us  look 
beyond  them  to  (rod,  who  on  this,  as  on  other  occa 
sions,  employs  human  agents  to  punish  guilty  peo 
ple.  Who  of  us,  my  friends,  has  a  right  to  send  up 
murmurs  to  (rod  ?  Whose  heart  does  not  accuse  him 
of  many  offences  ?  Who  can  look  round  on  his  coun 
try,  and  not  see  many  marks  of  ingratitude  to  (rod, 
and  of  contempt  of  his  laws  ?  Do  I  speak  to  any 
who,  having  received  success  and  innumerable  bless 
ings  from  God,  have  yet  forgotten  the  giver  ? — to 
any  who  have  converted  abundance  into  the  instru 
ment  of  excess  and  licentiousness — to  any  who,  hav 
ing  been  instructed  by  the  gospel,  have  yet  refused 
to  employ  in  works  of  benevolence  the  bounty  of 
heaven — to  any  who  are  living  in  habits  of  intemper 
ance,  impurity,  impiety,  fraud,  or  any  known  sin  ? 
To  such  I  would  say,  it  does  not  become  you  to  com 
plain  of  your  rulers,  or  of  the  war.  You  have  help 
ed  to  bring  on  us  this  scourge,  tocall  down  the  dis- 


17 

pleasure  of  God.  You  are  among  the  enemies  of 
your  country,  and  the  authors  of  her  ruin.  My 
Mends,  if  God  be  a  moral  governour,  no  individual 
and  no  nation  can  continue  to  prosper  in  the  viola 
tion  of  his  holy  commandments.  Let  then  this  day 
be  something  more  than  a  day  of  empty  forms.  We 
owe  to  ourselves  and  our  country  deep  sorrow  for 
our  sins,  and  a  sincere  purpose  that  we  will  labour 
by  our  reformation,  by  our  prayers  and  exemplary 
lives,  to  bring  down  a  blessing  on  our  land. 

Our  duties  to  our  rulers  are  not  so  easily  pre 
scribed.  It  is  our  duty  towards  them  to  avoid 
all  language  and  conduct  which  will  produce  a 
spirit  of  insubordination — a  contempt  of  laws 
and  just  authority.  At  the  same  time  we  must  not 
see,  without  sensibility,  without  remonstrance, 
our  rights  violated,  and  our  best  blessings  thrown 
away.  Our  elective  form  of  government  makes 
it  our  duty  to  expose  bad  rulers,  to  strip  them 
of  unmerited  confidence,  and  of  abused  power. — 
This  is  never  more  clearly  our  duty  than  when  our 
rulers  have  plunged  us  into  an  unjustifiable  and  ru 
inous  war, — a  war  which  is  leading  down  to  poverty, 
vice  and  slavery.  To  reduce  such  men  to  a  private 
station,  no  fair  and  upright  means  should  be  spared ; 
and,  let  me  add,  no  other  means  should  be  employ 
ed.  Nothing  can  justify  falsehood,  malignity,  or 
wild,  ungoverned  passion.  Be  firm,  but  deliberate — 
in  earnest,  yet  honest  and  jitst. 

To  those,  who  view  the  war  in  the  light  in  which 
it  has  been  now  exhibited,  one  part  of  duty  is  very 
plain.  They  must  give  no  encouragement,  no  unne 
cessary  voluntary  support  to  the  war.  They  should 
leave  the  awful  responsibility  of  this  destructive 


18 

measure  entirely  with  our  rulers,  and  yield  no  aid 
(except  for  defensive  purposes)  but  what  the  laws 
require.  Do  any  of  you  think,  my  friends,  that  even 
this  degree  of  support  is  not  due  to  a  government 
which  has  wantonly  sacrificed  our  interests,  and  de 
nied  to  some  members  of  the  national  confederacy 
almost  all  the  benefits  which  induced  them  to  accede 
to  the  Union  ?  I  answer,  that  a  government  may  for 
feit  its  right  to  obedience,  and  yet  it  may  be  the  du 
ty  of  citizens  to  submit.  Resistance  of  established 
power  is  so  great  an  evil, — civil  commotion  excites 
such  destructive  passions, — the  result  is  so  tremen 
dously  uncertain, — that  every  milder  method  of  re 
lief  should  first  be  tried,  and  fairly  tried.  The  last 
dreadful  resort  is  never  justifiable,  until  the  injured 
members  of  the  community  are  brought  to  despair  of 
other  relief,  and  are  so  far  united  in  views  and  pur 
poses  as  to  be  authorized  in  the  hope  of  success. — 
Civil  commotion  should  be  viewed  as  the  worst  of 
national  evils,  with  the  single  exception  of  slavery.  I 
know  that  this  country  has  passed  through  one  civil 
war  without  experiencing  the  calamitous  consequenc 
es  of  which  I  have  spoken.  But  let  us  not  forget, 
that  this  was  a  civil  war  of  a  very  peculiar  charac 
ter.  The  government  which  we  shook  off  was  not 
seated  in  the  midst  of  us.  Our  struggle  was  that  of 
nation  with  nation,  rather  than  of  fellow  citizens  with 
one  another.  Our  manners  and  habits  tended  to  give 
a  considerateness  and  a  stability  to  the  publick  mind, 
which  can  hardly  be  expected  in  a  future  struggle. 
And,  in  addition  to  these  favourable  circumstances, 
we  were  favoured  by  heaven  with  a  leader  of  incor 
ruptible  integrity,  of  unstained  purity — a  patriot  who 
asked  no  glory  but  that  of  delivering  his  country — 


19 

who  desired  to  reign  only  in  the  hearts  of  a  free  and 
happy  people — whose  disinterestedness  awed  and 
repressed  the  selfish  and  ambitious — who  inspired 
universal  confidence — and  thus  was  a  centre  and 
bond  of  union  to  the  minds  of  men  in  the  most  di 
vided  and  distracted  periods  of  our  country.  The 
name  of  WASHINGTON  I  may  pronounce  with  rever 
ence  even  in  the  temple  of  the  Almighty  ;  and  it  is 
a  name  which  revives  the  sinking  spirits  in  this  day 
of  our  declining  glory.  From  a  revolution,  con 
ducted  by  such  a  man,  under  such  circumstances, 
let  no  conclusions  be  hastily  drawn  on  the  subject 
of  civil  commotion. 

I  must  now  close  with  offering  a  few  remarks  on 
our  duty  to  our  country.  Let  us  cling  to  it,  my 
friends,  with  filial  love.  Though  dishonoured, 
though  endangered,  it  is  still  our  country — it  gave 
us  birth — it  holds  our  dearest  friends — and  such  are 
its  resources  and  improvements,  it  may  still  be  the 
first  of  nations.  Let  us  not  forsake  it  in  this  evil 
day.  Let  us  hold  -fast  the  inheritance  of  our  civil 
and  religious  liberties,  which  we  have  received  from 
our  fathers,  sealed  and  hallowed  by  their  blood. 
That  these  blessings  may  not  be  lost — that  our 
country  may  yet  be  honoured  and  blest — let  us  la 
bour  to  improve  publick  sentiment — to  enlighten  pub- 
lick  understanding — to  exalt  men  of  wisdom  and  vir 
tue  to  power.  Let  it  be  our  labour  to  improve  the 
moral  and  religious  character  of  our  citizens.  Let . 
us  remember  that  there  is  no  foundation  of  publick 
liberty  but  public  virtue — that  there  is  no  method  of 
obtaining  God's  protection  but  adherence  to  his 
laws. 


20 

Finally,  let  us  not  despair  of  our  country.  I  have 
in  this  discourse  suggested  many  painful  views — 
but  the  design  is  not  to  depress,  but  to  rouse  you  to 
exertion.  Despondence  is  unmanly,  unchristian. 
If  all  that  we  wish  cannot  be  done  for  our  country, 
still  something  may  be  done.  In  the  good  princi 
ples,  in  the  love  of  order  and  liberty,  by  which  so 
many  of  our  citizens  are  distinguished — in  the  tried 
virtue,  the  deliberate  prudence,  the  unshaken  firm 
ness  of  the  chief  magistrate,  whom  God  in  his  great 
goodness  has  given  to  this  Commonwealth — in  the 


upn 


htness  of  our  cause — in  the  value  of  the  bless 


ings  which  are  at  stake — in  the  peculiar  kindness 
which  God  has  manifested  towards  our  fathers  and 
ourselves — we  have  motives,  encouragements,  and 
solemn  obligations,  to  resolute,  persevering  exer 
tion  in  our  different  spheres,  and  according  to  our 
different  capacities,  for  the  publick  good.  The  times 
in  which  we  are  called  to  act  are  trying,  but  our 
duty  is  clear.  Let  us  use  with  vigour  every  right 
eous  method  for  promoting  the  peace,  liberty  and 
happiness  of  our  nation — and  having  done  this,  let 
us  leave  the  issue  to  the  wise  and  holy  providence 
of  HIM  who  cannot  err — and  who,  we  are  assured^ 
will  accept  and  reward  every  conscientious  effort  for 
his  own  glory  and  the  good  of  mankind. 


DAY  USE 

TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

Thic  K  "^f^*15  °NtY— TEl.  NO.  642-3405 


,  LD21A-60m-3,'70 
(N5382slO)476-A-32 


.  General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


'[-_,     x  trc 
D    -to^ 


L 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


